Chapter 11

Fiyero woke up slowly with the strangest feeling that he was being watched. He sat up in bed. Elphaba was sleeping soundly next to him. As he looked around the room, something caught his attention in the dim candlelight. A small figure in a yellow nightgown was standing on the threshold holding a teddy bear, looking back at him.

"Princess? What are you doing here?" he whispered.

"Had bad dream," said Dawn. "Can sleep here, daddy?"

He smiled. "Of course you can, come over here." He made room for her in the middle of the bed.

Elphaba stirred and mumbled a husky protest as he moved away from her. "Where are you going, Yero?" she asked, her eyes fluttering open.

"Nowhere. We have company tonight," he replied as Dawn crawled into bed between them. She snuggled close to sleepy Elphaba, who nuzzled her neck. Dawn giggled.

"Hey, little one. Couldn't sleep?"

"Had bad dream, mama."

"What kind of a bad dream, sweetheart?" asked Fiyero.

Dawn's eyes looked huge in her face when she simply said, "Mama go away. Daddy sad."

"Go away? Dawn…" started Elphaba, completely awake all of a sudden. She couldn't help but wonder whether Dawn's dream had anything to do with her own dreams. She and Fiyero exchanged a concerned glance over the child's head.

"Baby, mama isn't going away," Fiyero assured her.

Dawn shook her head, as if she knew better. "Mama go away with man," she said.

Fiyero froze. A man… that Luke?

Elphaba noticed his slight movement. She knew what he was thinking and shook her head. "What man, sweetie?" she asked gently. "What did he look like?"

"Old. Had red balloon," said Dawn.

Elphaba shuddered. She knew only one man who had a red balloon, and it was not the one Fiyero had in mind. She looked urgently at her little girl, but made sure that the panic in her voice was not so noticeable, for she didn't want to scare her. "Dawn, listen to me. Is this the first time you see this man in your dream?"

"Don't go with man, mama," pleaded Dawn, clinging to Elphaba.

"I won't, baby," Elphaba whispered and kissed the top of Dawn's head. "Don't you know that? I'll never leave you, I promise."

"Go back to sleep now, okay, Deanne? We're here," Fiyero assured her.

Dawn nodded and closed her eyes. Soon she was fast asleep, and so was Fiyero. Elphaba couldn't go back to sleep. Was it possible that both she and Dawn had the exact same dream? She held Dawn closer, and whispered Fiyero's promise in the sleeping child's ear, "He is not coming back here."